Economists growing more upbeat about year ahead

NEW YORK (AP) -- Economists are increasingly, but still cautiously, optimistic about growth in the year ahead with hiring expected to pick up in coming months.

A quarterly survey by the National Association for Business Economists released Monday shows half of the economists polled now expect real gross domestic product - the value of all goods and services produced in the United States - to grow between 2 and 4 percent this year. That's up from 36 percent of respondents who felt the same way three months earlier.

About half expect sluggish or negative growth, down from 65 percent in October.